Why the Next iPhone X May be Half-Price

It could be as cheap as the iPhone 7.

Even though Apple CEO Tim Cook was quoted saying that the $999 iPhone X is not going to get cheaper, the world’s biggest tech company might be cooking up a cheaper generation of smartphones to appeal to a broader market. Rumors that this year’s iPhone drop could be substantially cheaper were furthered this week.

Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI Securities issued a note to investors Wednesday: An upcoming 6.1-inch LCD iPhone might be priced as low as $550. He went on to explain that this new release will likely include two models with different features and varying price points, much like the joint announcement of the iPhone 8 and iPhone X. Introducing a cheaper product to the market could help in expanding Apple’s global market share against its competitors.

Kuo gathers his information through contacts in Apple’s Asian-Pacific supple chain in places like China. He then provides his clients with detailed research notes of how future Apple products might look like.

This time one of the newly announced phones might feature dual-SIM technology, which would allow users to seamlessly swap between two phone carriers while traveling internationally. The cheaper model will likely only have a single SIM setup. It was reported by Bloomberg that Apple was toying with the idea to begin incorporating this type of SIM tech into its phones, adding more legitimacy to Kuo’s report.

The KGI analyst went on to explain that Apple will likely offer the single SIM phone somewhere between $550 and $650, while the double SIM model will go from anywhere between $650 to $750. This would mean that a model of these newly released LCD iPhones could be priced as low as the iPhone 7, which goes for $549 in the United States.

This move could get Apple phones in the hands of a lot more people that perhaps were not willing to pay $1,000 for the iPhone X. If this move rings true, Apple could give Samsung a run for its money as the newest Galaxy phone would be $200 more expensive than this rumored iPhone.